Chapter 144: Nishino Akane, I presume?
"That fight was… a bit more disappointing than I thought it would be." Yukime says after she slept for an entire day to recover from her headache.
"Indeed. Though I wasn't really expecting much in the first place."
"That's why you subdued them instead, right? In order to strengthen them so they will provide you with better entertainment to enjoy and resources to harvest."
"That is one thing… but there is another goal in mind."
"What goal, my lord?"
"You will see… Heh heh heh."
"Oh, my lord, you're such a tease." Yukime grinned in anticipation of my plans unfolding.
"What's your next move then, my lord?"
"I'm going to stay here to develop a new weapon with these fools. I'll also send them to attack other settlements in order to give them more battle experience and to steal resources. You shall do the same with the giant monster."
"It shall be done, my lord."
With Kyoto under my command, I ordered the Magirangers and their army of minions to launch attacks to the nearby settlements and massacre all their inhabitants with any means necessary. I specifically ordered the Magirangers in particular to participate on the front lines because normally they would just sit back and relax in the background while hogging all the glory. They obeyed without question out of fear of me. This will give them actual combat (and murder) experience.
Their first target is naturally their ally, the Land of Light, which is based in the nearby city of Otsu, where the Ultraman knock-off came from. Since my monster defeated the Ultraman, their city is defenceless and thus is ripe for targeting. I could probably take a look at their version of giant transformation magic when the rangers brought back their spoils of war.
Having them betray their ally is also a very deliciously villainous thing to do.
I sent Yukime along with my giant monster to attack other settlements while I busied myself with Kyoto's scientists in order to create a giant robot. Of course, I'm no engineer, no expert of robotics. All I did was have them build the robot and I'll be responsible for creating the magic core for its power source and giving it enchantments to make it stronger.
You might be thinking that as a boy I must be happy to create a giant robot. Well, creating the robot is an interesting project to be sure but it is not a fun as experimenting with living beings that I can torment physically and mentally. Makes me miss my experimental subjects back home. Once I return, I'll be sure to give them as much love and affection as possible. No. 001 will join if she does not perform well enough here. Heh heh heh.
Anyway, as interesting it is to bring this robot technology back to the other world, I don't want to cause memory overload by absorbing too much knowledge out of these scientists, not while I'm still in the process if digesting my monstrous counterpart's memory. I'll just bring some data back home and perhaps recreate it when I'm not busy… though will a giant robot be necessary when I have an army of undead and monsters back home? Maybe not a giant robot but an automaton in steampunk style would be more appropriate since the other world's technology is around the steam age. Aesthetics is important.
Anyway, needless to say that the attack on Otsu is a huge success because not only were they undefended, they also didn't expect to be attacked by their former allies. The Magirangers brought back the chief scientists who developed the gigantism tech to create the Ultraman and I copied their memories into a memory crystal so I can review it later.
Yukime was also successful in attacking a settlement owned by a faction called "The Alliance", a faction similar to Messiah who didn't make any eccentric fighters like rangers or magical girls.
Word of my return and subsequent subjugation of Kyoto and attacks on other settlements have spread throughout all of Japan and several factions have tried their best to bolster their defences in response, just the way I intended. Some of them even forged alliances, both old and new. Messiah in particular have rekindled their old alliance with Akihabara faction. Nishino Akane is friends with their protectors, the magical girls, after all, though they don't interest me at all because they are nothing special, the same as the Knights of Messiah, just with more frilly costumes. That Ultraman guy, as disappointing as he is, is far more interesting than they are because he brought something unique (in this world's standard, not to me), which is the gigantism tech.
Also, I expected the Doomsday Cult to contact us immediately (seeing as they worshipped me and are in contact with the Magirangers considering they worked together to attack Messiah) but they haven't. If they have to make me, their god, have to actually pay a visit to them, I'll be very disappointed, so disappointed that I'll treat them like the rest of the factions.
But I am a patient and busy god so I shall give them a chance to pray to me until I finish my current project.
"Long time no see, Akane-chan!" Mari Blue, a blue haired girl wearing blue frilly dress, called out to Akane as they met in an abandoned street for a joint mission between their two factions. Their companions watched as the familiar scene unfolds.
"Hello, Mari-chan. I see you're as energetic as ever." Akane smiled as she hugged her friend, one of the things she still cherish in this broken world full of death, politics and deception.
"How are you? Good I hope?"
"I'm good."
"You're a bad liar, Akane-chan. I can see from the bags on your eyes that you haven't been sleeping well."
"I… I…" Akane stutters, losing her smile as her insecurities are laid bare before her friend.
"It's okay. It's okay." Says Mari as she hugged Akane, comforting her friend who is trying her best to hold back her tears.
"Mari-chan. We can't stay here forever. We're on a mission, you know." Says a girl with red hair and red frilly costume who is Mari Blue's companion called Aki Red.
"Come now, Aki-chan. Let them have their moment. Besides, don't you see that Akane-chan has went through so much?" Says a girl with green hair and green frilly costume, another one of Mari Blue's companion who is called Shiina Green. The three of them are known as the Mystic Witches, the magical girl team who are the primary protectors of Akihabara.
"Tch. You're too soft on them, Shiina-chan!"
"It's okay. I'm fine now, Mari-chan. I can't drown in my… problems forever." Akane says as she broke the hug.
"Haah… You're always like this, Akane-chan. After the mission is done, we're having a talk."
"I don't think-"
"And you have no say in it! Understand? Capische? Vestanden?" Mari Blue declared with her finger pointing at Akane with a smile.
"Haah… Fine." Akane, seeing no reason to refuse, relented to her friend's suggestion.
After that conversation is done, they held a briefing for the joint mission. Their mission this time is to investigate the ruins of a settlement owned by the Alliance, which disappeared overnight.
"According to the reports, the settlement suddenly ceased all contact since a few days ago, as if they vanished completely." Reported a knight under Akane's command.
"What could have done this?" Aki Red says.
"Could it be… an apex beast?" One of Akane's subordinates says.
"Apex beast?"
"According to my brother, it is a high possibility. I mean, there are not many things in this world that can annihilate an entire city in a single night after all. We must be cautious." Akane remarked.
"Or maybe it was a nuke!"
"Idiot! Who would have nukes at a time like this?"
"I heard the Imperial Family has some! America still does too! They used to nuke their own towns after all!"
"Why would they nuke a city in Japan?"
"Uhhh… to kill an apex?"
"Back in America, when they used nukes to kill the monsters, the apex beasts actually survived, so it can't be that."
"Then what would've destroyed the Alliance then?"
"That's what we're here to find out. Let's go." Akane cuts off her subordinates' conversation to stop further mentions of the apex beasts.
Mentions of an apex beast, a monster more powerful than the rest, gave them a feeling of dread and affected their morale. An apex beast is an existence whose threat is much greater than the Doomsday Cult after all. To this day, there's not a single faction who has managed to defeat one, not even the Land of Light, who tried to create a gigantic fighter to do it.
As they approach the Alliance's base, they sensed the presence of several monsters moving as one along with the rumble on the ground. They know what that means.
"Doomsday Cult! Stay on your guard!" Shouted Akane, causing both groups to adopt defensive formation, a common tactic they used during the war against the Doomsday Cult.
They waited for the horde of monsters under the command of the Doomsday Cult to arrive… but after waiting for several minutes, they didn't come.
"They're not coming?"
"Perhaps their target is not us."
"What should we do?"
Akane's subordinates are bewildered by this turn of events. Suddenly, an explosion occurred in the distance and several monsters' magic disappeared from their senses.
"Akane-chan! They're fighting something! Let's go!"
"Right!" The group hastened their steps towards the source of the explosion. As they approach the battlefield, they saw a huge lizard-like monster with a reins strapped on its neck. On the beast's back is a hulking man wearing black robe and a grinning white mask. His right eye shines bright red. They recognized him as Astaroth, one of the higher ups of the Doomsday Cult despite never fighting him before. Astaroth noticed their arrival and yet his eyes are glued towards Akane, who find his glare somewhat familiar.
"Nishino Akane, I presume? Heh heh heh." Those words… the voice… she recognized him. Memories of her second kidnapping flood her mind and almost giving her a panic attack before Mari Blue snapped her out of it by holding her hand.
"Astaroth… I presume?" Akane found the courage to reply.
"Indeed. It is quite funny that despite being old friends we never met each other in battle before this. If only Mr. Stylish is here as well. While I'd love to sit back and chat about old times, we have a bigger problem to face right now."
"What kind of problem? Destroying the Alliance?"
"I would've been proud to say I destroyed the Alliance, if I actually did it but no, I'm not the one who did it."
"Then who did!?"
"That woman did it."
"Woman? Who is she?"
"See for yourself." Astaroth pointed out to the distance…and indeed they sensed an enormous amount of magic power possessed by a single entity there. To Akane, said power is similar in level to the Occult Killer's although weaker. Still, it is still huge enough that they're confident that none of them are a match for the owner of that power.
They sensed the presence of several monsters vanishing after another explosion occurs.
"If you want to see who it is, go ahead. I won't stop you." Astaroth says as he left with the monster he rode in.
"Hey! Come back! Face justice for your crimes!" Mari Blue shouted but he ignored her and left.
"Let him go, Mari-chan. We have to find out who he was fighting against." Akane says.
"You're right, Akane-chan. Lead the way."
The rushed towards the battlefield, passing through the mutilated corpses of several monsters and cultists on the way, which they noticed had clean cuts.
"What could've done this?" Aki Red says.
"We're about to find out, I guess." Shiina Green replied.
Finally they arrived at the battlefield. They were stunned by the sight they were seeing. A mountain of corpses, of both monsters and cultists… And standing above it is a woman… an extremely beautiful woman wearing white.
"Hey… is that…?"
"It can't be…!"
"It's her…?"
Akane held her breath. Never would she imagine that she would meet with her… a monster whose threat level is equal to the apex beasts… A monster responsible for the destruction of Arcadia, a settlement she used to live in before moving to Messiah… A monster with bright blonde hair.
"The Original Knight…!" She muttered the name as the blonde woman turned her eyes towards them.
Author's Note:
Long time no see. Had a waist ache which makes it kinda hard to sit and write. It's better now though. Now the plot thickens and a few new characters are introduced. What will become of Akane and the Mystic Witches? Find out in the next episode of the Presumed Akane in Shadows.
Guest: Love that Necromancer is just going on a subjugation spree. First the Lawless City, then Oriana, and now Kyoto.
I also love that whenever he tries to do something evil to his minions, they misunderstand (it wouldn't be TEiS without it) and think he is secretly nice, which further solidifies their loyalty to him. Adra, Sherry, and Yukime all think he is acting evil to protect Charlotte. Carmilla thought he erased her memories of her sister to spare her the pain of betrayal when it was complete accident. The orphaned children are happy to receive jobs when he tried to induce child labor. And now Yukime thinks he is being kind by healing her from information overload when he is just using her as a training dummy for his brain magic. I can just imagine him internally screaming if he ever finds out his minions don't see him as evil as he makes himself out to be. XD
Answer: The Misunderstanding in Shadows continues. But will it remain forever? We shall see.
Guest: Great seeing Marie again glad she's doing good, hopefully we'll get to see more of her
Answer: Yeah. Hope I can come up with something for her to do.
DerTrap: I am already interested where this is going with the magiranger's, will they manage to kidnap Akane with the support of Necromancer, to forcefully make her their pink ranger by maybe brainwashing her? Would be kinda neat honestly and a lof of trauma, if she regains control of her self, when she realizes that she helped Testyua and his minions, maybe even killing innocent people. Also will there be other giant monsters, because I would love it if Tetsuya makes Yukime big or something, giant fox being adorable and cute while also destroying everything.
Answer: I have a different plan for Akane. You shall see.